Colonoscopy: Your First Line of Defense Against Colorectal Cancer

Any discussion of colorectal cancer should start with the fact that, over the past 50 years, rates of colorectal cancer have been down thanks to better screening efforts.

Today, nearly 160,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2026, and, in the same year, the disease will claim slightly more than 55,000 lives. 

So, while lives have been saved, colorectal cancer is still the third leading cause of cancer death in men and women, and our goal is to get the numbers down even further.

Since March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in the US, the experienced team of board-certified colorectal surgeons at Fairfax Colon & Rectal Surgery wants to review a few key points about screening for colorectal cancer with a colonoscopy.

Colorectal cancer trends

We reviewed the numbers at the beginning, and now we want to expand on them a bit. While rates of colorectal cancers are down, in general, there’s a worrisome trend that’s emerging — more younger people are being diagnosed with the disease.

It used to be that anyone under 50 didn’t really have to worry about colorectal cancer, but that’s no longer the case. The reality is that one in five colorectal cancer diagnoses is in people under the age of 55. Furthermore, there’s been an annual increase of 2% in colorectal cases in adults between the ages of 20 and 39.

This trend toward younger people receiving colorectal diagnoses is primarily fueled by an increase in lifestyle risk factors, mainly:

• Having obesity
• Eating low-fiber diets (most Americans only get about half the fiber they need)
• Lack of exercise

This trend explains why new screening guidelines recommend starting colorectal cancer screening at the age of 45 instead of 50 for people who are at average risk.

Why the colonoscopy excels in colorectal cancer prevention

When choosing a screening method, you may have heard of stool samples and blood tests as potential options. These options are indeed good indicators, but they still fall short of colonoscopy.

A colonoscopy is a procedure in which we visually examine your colon and rectum using a scope (rest assured, you’re sedated during the procedure).

This firsthand look at the lining of your colon and rectum can not only provide us with valuable information about your lower digestive tract health, but also serve as a preventive tool.

During your colonoscopy, we look for any abnormalities in your colon and rectum, such as polyps. These small growths are common, typically not cancerous, but they are also the primary precursors of cancer.

During your colonoscopy, if we find abnormal tissue or polyps, we remove them immediately for further analysis.

As you can see, not only can we screen for colorectal cancer with a colonoscopy, we can hit the reset button on your lower digestive tract by removing any suspicious tissues, making it a preventive practice as well as a screening one.

If you would like to schedule this important screening, you can click here to set up a consultation appointment at one of our five offices in the Fairfax, Virginia, area.